Judge tosses oil and gas leases in Gulf of Mexico
Citing climate change, a federal judge on Thursday invalidated recent oil and gas leases in the Gulf of Mexico.
In his ruling, U.S. District Court Judge Rudolph Contreras said the lease sale was invalid because an analysis by the Department of the Interior did not fully take into consideration how the leases will impact the climate. Contreras' decision cancels 1.7 million acres of leases, CNN reports.
During his first days in office, President Biden signed an executive order pausing new permits on oil and gas drilling. Thirteen states that rely heavily on the oil and gas industries filed a lawsuit, and after a judge blocked the Biden administration's order, a sale went through in November that netted almost $192 million.
The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Several environmental groups, including the Center for Biological Diversity and Friends of the Earth, sued over the sale, saying it was conducted under flawed assumptions. Contreras agreed, finding that the Biden administration used outdated modeling from the Trump administration when it looked at the climate-warming impact of the lease sale, CNN reports. As part of the ruling, the Interior Department must fix its environmental analysis and greenhouse gas modeling.
The environmental organizations that sued are applauding the decision, with Earthjustice senior attorney Brettny Hardy saying in a statement that the world "simply cannot continue to make investments in the fossil fuel industry to the peril of our communities and increasingly warming planet." Meanwhile, a spokesperson for the American Petroleum Institute called the ruling "disappointing" and said the group is considering its legal options.
-
Political cartoons for January 29Cartoons Thursday's political cartoons include 2nd amendment dibs, disturbing news, and AI-inflated bills
-
The Flower Bearers: ‘a visceral depiction of violence, loss and emotional destruction’The Week Recommends Rachel Eliza Griffiths’ ‘open wound of a memoir’ is also a powerful ‘love story’ and a ‘portrait of sisterhood’
-
Steal: ‘glossy’ Amazon Prime thriller starring Sophie TurnerThe Week Recommends The Game of Thrones alumna dazzles as a ‘disillusioned twentysomething’ whose life takes a dramatic turn during a financial heist
-
The world is entering an ‘era of water bankruptcy’The explainer Water might soon be more valuable than gold
-
Climate change could lead to a reptile ‘sexpocalypse’Under the radar The gender gap has hit the animal kingdom
-
The former largest iceberg is turning blue. It’s a bad sign.Under the radar It is quickly melting away
-
How drones detected a deadly threat to Arctic whalesUnder the radar Monitoring the sea in the air
-
‘Jumping genes’: how polar bears are rewiring their DNA to survive the warming ArcticUnder the radar The species is adapting to warmer temperatures
-
Environment breakthroughs of 2025In Depth Progress was made this year on carbon dioxide tracking, food waste upcycling, sodium batteries, microplastic monitoring and green concrete
-
Crest falling: Mount Rainier and 4 other mountains are losing heightUnder the radar Its peak elevation is approximately 20 feet lower than it once was
-
Death toll from Southeast Asia storms tops 1,000speed read Catastrophic floods and landslides have struck Sri Lanka, Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia
